Katie Couric: Why I Opened Up About My Struggle With Bulimia

Katie Couric attends the Hollywood Reporter celebrates "The 35 Most Powerful People in Media" April 11, 2012 in New York City.Credit: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

Timing is everything.

Opening up about her battle with bulimia on her talk show last week wasn't a tough decision for Katie Couric -- it just felt like the right time.

"We were having an honest conversation," the talk show host explained to E! News. "So for me to harbor that kind of secret and not be upfront about it, seemed kind of disingenuous when I was asking all these other people to share these intensely personal stories. I felt like it was the right thing to do. It's just a part of who I am."

Couric, 55, went public about her history with the eating disorder during a Sept. 24 episode of her show, Katie. "I wrestled with bulimia all through college and for two years after that," the University of Virginia grad revealed. "I know this rigidity, this feeling that if you eat one thing that's wrong, you're full of self-loathing and then you punish yourself, whether it's one cookie or a stick of gum that isn't sugarless, that I would sometimes beat myself up for that."

"It's never really come up before," the journalist explained to E! News. "This just seemed to be the right time. And it seemed to be a natural part of the conversation and certainly relevant to what we were discussing."

Couric is a mother to daughters Ellie, 21, and Carrie, 16, with late husband Jay Monahan. She told E! News that her daughters were already aware of her history with the eating disorder. "It wasn't something they heard about on television," she explained, "or they would have been shocked to hear."